Real Stakes and Reel Stakes
by regolithheart
Summary: Nothing eventful could possibly happen when Wolf and Thorne decide to go on a little fishing trip. BroTP one-shot featuring Cars'ev.


"Are you sure I shouldn't be in charge of that?" Thorne asked, his eyebrow arched expectantly towards Wolf. "I am a captain after all."

Wolf was aware that the pencil and checklist looked comical tucked into his big hands, but he didn't need reminding. He frowned. "Just make sure those buckles are tight." He jutted his chin towards the overstuffed hiking pack at Thorne's feet and hoped the quick flash of canines was enough to shut the captain up.

Thorne checked and double-checked the straps and buckles on his bag while Wolf did one more sweep of the gear spread between them in the grass. Packs. Check. Tackle box. Check. Fishing rods. Check.

Wolf tucked the pencil behind his ear and clapped his hands together. "It looks like we're ready to head out."

"Finally! We've been ready to head out for the past thirty minutes!"

Wolf frowned again. "There's no need to rush. It's better to be prepared. We still have the whole day ahead of us."

Adjusting his rolled shirt-sleeves, Thorne shrugged. "I just wanna get out there and catch that prize-winning trout for my girl." He flashed a perfect grin.

"Speaking of, I hear her coming."

Thorne turned his head towards the back door of the farm house just in time to see Cress skipping out, her blonde curls bouncing, shining in the sunlight. His grin widened.

Wolf watched the two share a smile as Cress skipped over to Thorne and his own smile was only interrupted by the scent of vanilla and lemons in the breeze. He looked up towards the house, just as Scarlet jogged down the porch steps.

He counted ten seconds until she was close enough to grab, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her snug against him.

Scarlet laughed. "You're only going to be away for a couple of hours."

"Still…" he breathed, brushing his lips against hers.

"You've got to be kidding me! Cress!" Thorne's voice pierced the air and it was the tinge of shrillness that tore Wolf's attention away from Scarlet.

Wolf let out a howl of laughter.

Only five feet away from him, Cress stood there beaming while Thorne scowled, hands on his hips.

Perched on top of Thorne's head was the floppiest hat Wolf had had the pleasure of seeing on a man. It made him want to howl again in pure delight and that was before he noticed the lures that hung off the bucket hat and glittered in the sunlight.

"I can't wear this. It'll give me… _hat hair_!" He snatched it off his head.

Cress's smile widened, but her blue eyes turned icy and Wolf pulled Scarlet a fraction closer to him, bracing them.

Cress reached over and plucked the hat out of Thorne's hand. "You will," she said, "wear this hat." She gave it a firm shake to loosen any wrinkles Thorne might have pressed into it. "And you will…" she continued, punching the hat to straighten the crown before shoving it back onto Thorne's head. "Like it."

Wolf was amazed at how Cress managed to reach up to get the hat back on top of Thorne's head, but not nearly as amazed at the scene when Thorne opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, closed his mouth, and then leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you," he said softly.

Satisfied, Cress nodded.

Wolf felt his shoulder tremble as Scarlet buried a laugh into it and before he knew it, he was gasping for air himself. The look on Thorne's face at their delight fueled Wolf's laughter even further.

Thorne's scowl turned almost deadly until a switch flipped and his eyes twinkled with wickedness. The flash of those perfect white teeth startled Wolf silent and before he could brace himself for whatever horror made Thorne look so delighted, a shadow fell over Wolf and the twin to Thorne's hat was settling onto his own head.

"Surprise." Scarlet's smile was almost as wicked as Thorne's.

"Ha!" Thorne's arms flew up in triumph.

Cress nudged his leg with her foot.

Wolf looked at Scarlet open-mouthed, unwilling to believe the betrayal, but she simply giggled.

"Oh, come on. You look very handsome. Besides, we don't want you to get a sunburn." She drew a finger down the length of his nose which made the back of his neck erupt into goosebumps and he conceded.

"If we want to eat today, you two better head out," Cress said.

"Don't worry, Cress. I'm going to catch you the biggest trout you've ever seen!" Thorne wrapped an arm around her waist and dipped her as she squealed. He leaned in to give her a kiss, one arm steadying her while the other held his hat in place.

"Yours better be bigger," Scarlet teased before pressing her own kiss onto Wolf's lips. The low rumble at the back of his throat was a promise.

* * *

"Oh thank the stars," Thorne said and collapsed on the large flat boulder that jutted out above the lake. The hike hadn't taken long, only thirty minutes or so, but he had been wrestling with a pebble that managed to lodge itself inside his shoe for twenty-eight of those minutes and Wolf had refused any breaks.

He didn't bother to take his backpack off before attacking his shoelaces. Wolf's snicker and headshake didn't go unnoticed.

"How did you manage to survive the desert?"

Thorne closed his eyes for a brief moment. "An angel sang to me." He gave Wolf a quick wink and then tipped the tiny pebble out of his shoe and flicked it into the lake.

The two men were silent as they both watched the ripples fade and then Wolf turned to unpack their things.

Thorne put his shoe back on and began unpacking his own bag. For a couple of minutes the only sound that could be heard for miles around were of birds chirping, fish nipping at the surface of the lake, and the occasional clang of gear and equipment.

Thorne licked his lips. "I wasn't kidding, you know."

"Hmmm?" Wolf didn't bother to look up from the tackle box in his lap.

"About the angel. Cress…she…I wouldn't have made it without her." He ventured a glance over to Wolf, who was still hunched over the tackle box, but the curious arch of Wolf's eyebrow confirmed he was listening. Maybe it was the peaceful quietness that surrounded them, or maybe it was the first time in a long time that he had experienced some sort of male bonding, or maybe it was that ridiculous hat cutting off the circulation to his brain, but Thorne continued. "I don't know. Maybe I would have survived the desert, even found my way back to you guys, but without Cress, I wouldn't have _made_ it." Thorne closed his eyes and chuckled. "I'm not making any sense."

The sudden clap of a large, heavy hand on his shoulder made him jump.

"You make perfect sense."

The slight glint in Wolf's eyes and the memory of seeing him kissing Scarlet outside the farmhouse confirmed to Thorne that Wolf knew exactly what he was talking about. He grinned. "We've got it bad, don't we?"

A deep, low chuckle came from Wolf. "Definitely." He handed Thorne a rod already prepared with a lure and they both cast off in unison.

"Hey! Not bad," Thorne remarked. He eyed Wolf, wondering if there was anything in that hybrid DNA that predisposed him to fishing.

"Scarlet taught me. We've spent a lot of time here this summer."

The pink tinging Wolf's ears made Thorne smirk and wonder how much fishing they actually managed to do.

"What about you? I wouldn't think there was much time for fishing in the military."

"My dad used to take me when I was little." Thorne scratched the back of his neck.

Wolf's ears visibly perked, no doubt from the little snippet of his past that Thorne had just revealed. It was probably the first time in front of Wolf that Thorne had mentioned his parents at all.

"Did he take you often?" Wolf's voice was soft, not too pushy, and Thorne knew that the hunter was circling the prey.

He sat on the ground, leaning his back against fallen log and stretched his legs out in front of him. He gave his line a little tug and when Wolf plopped down next to him, he continued his story.

"We used to go down to the Santa Monica pier whenever he had a free weekend. They were never planned, always a surprise. He'd shake me awake and then we'd be in the hover on our way to the beach." Thorne tugged on his line again. "I was small for my age so he'd hold me up while I stood on the first rung of the railing so I could cast off. Most of the time, I just hung off that railing and listened to him talk about his test flights, whatever new plane or ship they were working on."

Thorne looked over to see a warm smile spread on Wolf's face.

"Once, we even went camping because he'd heard the fishing was good at this lake. My mom hated it, so we never went again, but it was actually pretty fun when we were there."

"How old were you?"

Thorne shrugged. "Seven, eight maybe? And then I started growing up, having my own ideas. Redefining the word adventure." He grinned. "Then we stopped going fishing."

Another silence fell around them. Thorne knew his childhood had been completely different than Wolf's, but he wondered if his story had drudged up some memories that had wished to stay buried. There was a rustle next to him and before he could turn to take a look at what was happening, a shiny silver flask was being presented to him. His eyebrow quirked.

"Well, I was going fishing with you wasn't I? I figured one of us would need it." Wolf nudged it forward.

Thorne threw his head back in a hearty laugh and grabbed the flask with his free hand. "Too right, my friend." He sniffed and took a long draw, smacking his lips. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He handed the flask back to Wolf who took his own swig.

There was a brief moment when Wolf looked over to Thorne, clearly meaning to ask him something, but thought better of it and looked out onto the quiet lake instead.

Thorne sighed. "Out with it."

Another moment of hesitation. "Have you talked to them, your parents, since…"

"No."

Wolf nodded and Thorne was more than willing to end that particular conversation, but there was a nagging pull in the pit of his stomach.

"Cress wants me to reach out to them."

"Has she heard the fishing story?"

"She's heard all the stories, or very nearly."

"Are you going to do it?"

That was the ultimate question. Thorne sighed. "I don't want to disappoint her."

"I'm not sure that's possible. Look at what you're wearing!" Wolf motioned to the hat as if Thorne had forgotten.

Thorne rolled his eyes. "I make everything look good. Besides, this is…different."

Wolf looked out onto the lake again, avoiding eye contact, and spoke. "Do you want my opinion?"

"If I said no, would you still give it?"

"No."

Thorne pondered this for a moment. He was right. If Thorne had wanted this conversation ended, Wolf wouldn't push. It wasn't his nature. Which meant, Thorne concluded, that if Wolf had something to say, it probably needed to be heard.

Thorne reached for the flask. "Enlighten me."

"You and I have had very different childhoods."

"You can say that again," Thorne said, raising the flask.

"But we both had fathers who loved us." Wolf paused, waiting for the objection that didn't come, at least not verbally. He gave Thorne's scowl a moment's attention before continuing. "When the Thaumaturges took me away, I knew I'd never see my dad again. It wasn't a feeling I had or anything like that. It was a fact. We all knew we'd never see our families again—were reminded of it every day, stuck in those lava tubes. I'd already lost my father before he passed away."

Thorne flicked a nonexistent speck of dust off his knee.

"Sounds like you've lost yours too, but he hasn't passed away and you're not stuck in the lava tubes."

"Doesn't mean I'm not stuck."

"No." Wolf smirked. "But you have Cress and she's nice and little. Good for unsticking things."

Thorne's lip curled at the mere mention of her, his unsticker. He thought it was a very apt description of her.

Wolf cleared his throat. "My point is, you lost your dad, but he's not gone. And people can change. Both of us are living proof of that."

Thorne looked out onto the lake, mulling Wolf's words over. He was right, of course, but it was more than that. It was the shadow of longing in his friend's voice when he spoke of his father that really dug at Thorne. Did he want to live with those regrets?

"Besides," Wolf added, stretching out in his folding chair. "You and Jacin are the only ones of us who still have living parents. If it doesn't work out, maybe you can switch."

Thorne let out a bark of laughter. "You know, I think Jacin Clay and Kingsley Thorne would actually get on pretty well."

They both laughed and checked their lines.

* * *

"Well, this is just pathetic," Thorne moaned.

The sun was beginning to drift below the tree line. The flask that Wolf had brought now lay empty between them, and yet they had not been able to catch a single thing to take home to the girls.

Wolf sighed and stood up, reeling his line in. "We should just call it a day." He leaned his fishing rod against a nearby tree and began gathering up the belongings that they had managed to scatter about through the course of the afternoon.

"But I promised Cress a trout."

Wolf's stomach rumbled. "And there are obviously no trout." He swept his arm in the air to emphasize the lack of fish in their camp.

Thorne stood up. "That's not true. There's one, and another right there!" He pointed into the glistening water below and sure enough, two trout swam by. Taking it as a personal insult, Thorne reeled his line in one more time, checked his lure and then cast it out far.

Wolf held his breath as Thorne cranked a couple of turns on his reel, hoping that the luck he always boasted about would come through, but when nothing happened, he let out a huff of disappointment. Again, he moved to clean up.

"Come on, come on," Thorne urged under his breath, stepping from foot to foot. Wolf had to admire Thorne's determination. He must really have wanted to keep his promise to Cress. Either that, or not suffer the embarrassment of coming back empty-handed. Or perhaps he really thought they weren't going to eat tonight.

Wolf smirked. Scarlet had seen to it that they had a backup plan and he knew there was a pot of coq au vin simmering on the stove at that very moment. It made him even more eager to finish packing and head back to the farm.

Wolf picked up the empty flask and stuffed it into the front pocket of his pack. "Come on, Thorne. Today just wasn't our day."

Defeated, Thorne began to reel his line in slowly and dramatically, his frown deep and exaggerated. Wolf watched until Thorne paused and his scowl morphed into pure delight.

"I've got something!"

Wolf watched as the line snapped taut and the rod bent with the strain. Thorne gritted his teeth and his whole body leaned backwards, trying to pull his catch in.

"Let go of the line, just a tad. Then reel it back in," Wolf encouraged.

Thorne did as he was told and managed to gain some purchase, but as he continued to struggle to reel in his catch, Wolf stepped forward to help. Wolf reached out to grab Thorne's shoulder just before a loud crack pierced the air.

Thorne gasped.

The snapping rod surprised Wolf just as much and when he jumped, his foot caught on a managed root jutting out from the base of the fallen log, pitching him forward, twisting into Thorne and head first into the lake.

The water was crisp despite the late summer sun, but Wolf had no problems surfacing, even with the broken fishing rod tangled around his leg. He kicked forward, grabbing the rod and flung it towards their packs. He began swimming towards the shore when he heard the panic in Thorne's voice.

"Ow! Ah! Ah!" It was all that could be heard above the thrashing.

Wolf turned his head towards the commotion and saw Thorne's arms flailing wildly, his face barely above the water. In four long strokes, Wolf was at Thorne's side and grabbing him under his arms.

Thorne sputtered. "Something's wrong with my ankle. I think it's broken."

Wolf cursed. He made quick work of getting them to the shore, but when he dragged Thorne onto the pebbled beach, Thorne gasped again.

"My hat!"

The two men watched as Thorne's floppy hat floated lazily in the middle of the lake.

Thorne bent forward in a pathetic attempt to reach for it and Wolf grumbled, tossed his own hat down next to Thorne and dove back into the lake.

By the time Wolf had retrieved Thorne's hat and made it back to the shore for the second time, he saw that Thorne had managed to remove his shoe from his injured foot and was assessing the damage.

"It's not broken," he informed Wolf. "But I don't think I can walk."

Wolf flung Thorne's hat at him and it hit him squarely in the chest with a big, wet thwap. He marched over to their packs, grabbed Thorne's and dumped it next to him.

"Well, I'm not carrying you if you're sopping wet."

* * *

"I see it!" Thorne threw his arm out towards the farmhouse and huffed. "It's so close!"

Wolf grunted. "I don't know why you're out of breath. I'm the one who has been carrying you for three miles."

Thorne tightened the arm that he had wrapped around Wolf's broad shoulders. "I'm injured! Plus, it hasn't been a smooth ride and this pack is making my leg numb." Thorne gestured to the pack that was wedged in his lap as Wolf carried him through the field, bridal style.

Wolf grunted again.

They reached the fence that separated the farm and the outlying fields and had barely swung the gate closed behind them, when Scarlet and Cress came out to meet them.

"What happened?" Scarlet asked, eyebrows raised suspiciously.

"I hurt my ankle."

"How?"

Thorne pretended not to hear her question.

"He fell into the lake," Wolf answered and Thorne threw him a look of disbelief at the betrayal.

"Ha." Scarlet smirked and crossed her arms before turning to look at Cress.

Cress sighed and proceeded to punch a series of commands into her portscreen. A second later, the portscreen on Scarlet's belt pinged. She reached down to check it.

"Thanks!" She smirked.

Incredulous, Thorne threw his arm out, almost making Wolf lose his balance in the process. "You had a bet against me?"

Scarlet shrugged. "We had to keep ourselves entertained. I'm guessing you didn't manage to catch anything?"

Both men remained silent.

Cress furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait a minute, if Thorne fell into the water, why is Wolf also wet?"

From his vantage point, Thorne could see the tips of Wolf's ears turning pink. "Ah, well. I hurt my ankle of course and then Wolf, gallant as ever, jumped in to save me."

Scarlet walked over and grabbed the pack from Thorne's lap, turning to walk back to the farmhouse. "Well, come on. Dinner's ready inside."

Cress gave both of them a glance before turning to follow Scarlet.

Wolf took a breath and hitched Thorne up in his arms.

"Hey," Thorne said before Wolf could begin the last stretch towards the house.

"What?"

"Thanks. You know, for everything."

Wolf stood, quiet for a second, then nodded his head and began walking again.

Thorne smirked, clapped his arm tight around his friend's shoulder and gave it a squeeze for good measure.

* * *

 **AN:** Happy birthday **_zissa_**! I hope you liked your birthday fic. I had so much fun writing this and it just made me love our brotp, Cars'ev, even more (if that were possible [#real stakes and real steaks]). A big thanks to **_lettered_** for beta'ing and I hope you all enjoyed.


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